Patrick Camberlain of formerly YGP and more recently the Tribe riders has come up with the ‘Rider of the year awards’ . This is a yearly competition to celebrate whitewater kayaking in all it’s forms and recognize some of the key players in the progression of our sport.There are a variety of different awards from the best freestyle move, which will be a video submission to the more subjective rider of the year which will be peer voted.

Hopefully this concept will grow for Pat and will gain the support required to become an annual event that grows and continues for years to come. Working in Whistler I often get to go to all the contests and similar set ups in the snowsports industry and often wish kayaking had some sort of similar platform. Well here it is….. Great idea Pat….

On a personal level , I was pretty excited because I got invited to submit photos to the ‘photographer of the year’ section. This is super exciting as it is an opportunity for all the amazing whitewater photogs to showcase their work next to each other. Great to see the talent pool of photography that exists within our fringe sport that in reality has little to no financial potential for a photographer.